(86) An Indian woman married a Big Knife. He was a trader. A veritable herd of people went to that place. They asked him for paint. The trader could not give them paint, and Midjistéga answered, "If you give me some flour, I will make some paint." And the trader said (87), "If you make some paint, I'm going to give you the store." "All right," Midjistéga said, "I'll do it outside the Indian camp." The trader handed a pan full of flour to Midjistéga. He took it. And he did the Grizzly Bear Dance, and he shook the pan four times, and when he removed the black cloth, the pan was full of red paint. (88) The little trader took a stick and stirred up the whole batch of red.

The trader: "Midjisté, you have beaten me, the store is yours; but again make the pan full of flour," he said. And again there was dancing and in the same way he again shook the pan four times, and it was full of maple sugar.

(89) And again he put a plum wood stake in the ground and covered it with a black cloth. And he shook the plum wood four times, the plums falling off it. They ate them. Plums are what they became like.

And an Ioway came and danced the Grizzly Bear Dance. And one of the Ioway, Wanasúntcka, stuck something into the fire. And Midjistéga took a grizzly bear claw out of the fire. (90) And again he began dancing. After he threw in front of him a fawn-hide tobacco pouch belonging to him, a fawn came to life and walked around in front of the dancer. Again, the skin came to life. [1]

Links: Witches.

Stories: mentioning Midjistéga: The End of Medjistéga's Life; mentioning witches or warlocks: The Witch Men's Desert, The Thunder Charm, The Wild Rose, The Seer, Turtle and the Witches, Great Walker and the Anishinaabe Witches, The Claw Shooter, The End of Midjistéga's Life, The Mesquaki Magician, The Tap the Head Medicine, Keramanic'aka's Blessing, Battle of the Night Blessed Men and the Medicine Rite Men, The Shawnee Prophet -- What He Told the Hotcâgara, v. 2, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Thunder Cloud Marries Again, Paint Medicine Origin Myth, The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle, Potato Magic; in which dancing plays a role: Ghost Dance Origin Myth I, Ghost Dance Origin Myth II, Buffalo Dance Origin Myth, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Îtcorúcika and His Brothers, Trickster and the Dancers, Wolves and Humans, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, Bluehorn Rescues His Sister, The Blessing of Kerexûsak; mentioning traders: Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, Turtle and the Merchant; mentioning the Ioway: Ioway & Missouria Origins, Keramanic'aka's Blessing, The Woman's Scalp Medicine Bundle, Introduction; mentioning plums: Trickster and the Mothers.

Themes: an empty hide comes to life: White Wolf, The Woman who Loved Her Half-Brother; food is magically created from something inedible: Potato Magic.

Notes: 

[1] John Fireman, "The Story of Midjistéga," trs. George Ricehill, in Paul Radin, Winnebago Notebooks, Freeman #3892 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society) Winnebago III, #11a, Story 7, pp. 86-90. An English only version is found in Paul Radin, Notebooks (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1908) Winnebago I, #7a: 45-49.